The deal is done
by OnceUponAShip
Summary: What's a girl to do when your parents make a deal with the most hated man in town, and you're the price? Belle arrives back in her hometown for her 21st birthday with a 7 year old in tow, but she's only been gone for a year! Her trip back home will reveal more secrets about the town than she ever thought possible-and her parents hunt the supernatural! AU, no curse


This is the story of how Belle French dies.

Not really, but it got you interested, right? This is the story of Belle French, but she goes by many names. On her trip to Arizona last week she was Lacey Bale, and on the current job in Virginia she is Jane Manchester. Belle's job requires that she travel around constantly, but it's not like she can complain as she's her own employer. Listen to me saying 'employer' like this is an actual paying job. She travels from state to state stopping supernatural occurrences. You can't exactly put that on your resume.

Unlike that 'Supernatural' show everyone's always going on about, real life is nothing like that. It's scarier and there's a lot more involved than just killing something and moving on. Look at Belle, for example: She's twenty years old, about as tall as a premature eighth grader and only been doing this job for three years. More clearly stated: She's about the farthest thing from killing material that you will ever meet. These 'monsters' out there have families most of the time. They're usually born this way or something made them the way they are, so as often as she can she just tries to help them figure out how to deal with their lifestyle. She knew how the death of a loved one can affect your whole life. She hadn't came across any other people like her so for right now Belle liked to think of herself as the world's only consulting supernatural life coach.

Belle had just finished her latest case about an hour ago: Another case of were-wolf-it is and she's been driving to her next location ever since: Storybrooke, Maine. When she's there her name will still be Belle French, because why attempt to go by a false name in your hometown? It's been years since she's seen her parents so what better way to spend a 21st birthday than with them?

Storybrooke's is about a 14 hour drive from here, give or take. Though it should be specified that _here _is only about thirty minutes from the University of Virginia . The car was cruising through a small town called 'season city.' Why it was called a city Belle couldn't figure out because while it seemed to have a lot of local businesses, the 'city' was actually barely large enough to be considered a medium sized town. Speaking of local business, it's 8:30 in the morning and Belle hadn't had her daily dose of caffeine yet. With hawk like eyes, Belle spotted a café just up ahead. Two actually. How lucky there's a café right when she getting a craving for coffee… Well In 'The Business' that's actually called scary, not lucky, but 'normals' usually call it a coincidence. In Belle's dictionary however the word 'coincidence' doesn't exist. But she did want some coffee and maybe she could take a peek at the local newspaper to see if anything odd has happened here recently.

The transmission gave a startling grind as she put it in park. Honestly she was just glad that the clunker made it this far, it had been her father's from when he was old enough to buy his first car and as soon as Belle hit 16 she inherited it. Didn't feel right getting rid of it now. Something under her foot made an odd gritty noise when she finally managed to unhook her seatbelt and slide out of the driver's seat. Lifting her shoe up, expecting the worst, Belle saw something shiny. Golden…Sand? This is Virginia, not Florida right? Belle sighed, 'Did I get into another bind with a genie again, I really hope not.' Nasty things they are. Lots of goo and sand that wouldn't usually be associated with the belly dancers they appear as. Maybe it was just from some sun themed shop? The Halloween themed cafe 'All Hallows' is the themed shop she had ended up parking next to. What an odd name. Right across the street was another café as well. That's weird positioning for two coffee shops to be exactly across from each other, but the other one was some Christmas themed café and Christmas was soo two weeks ago. There's only so much Christmas a girl can handle before it starts to become annoying, especially when you have no one to spend it with. Also Christmas traveling traffic makes December a terrible time to have a traveling job like hers. She is in her car every day for at least 7 hours, she definitely didn't like being in it any longer than she had to be. Especially not in the winter, a jeep is good for off road chases and races, but it is definitely not fun in the cold.

Blowing cold air around and imagining she was a dragon blowing smoke everywhere, she headed into the Halloween themed café. Stepping through the door though, she nearly keeled over as the magic in the shop tackled her like she was a football and it was a high school football player. Not one of those public school football players either, we're talking private and just caught sight of the college recruiter in the crowd. Staggering, she somehow managed not to tip over, though the weight of the laptop case slung over her back nearly titanic'd her.

Taking a deep breath she waded toward the front desk. A man in all black stood at the counter, and by all black I mean Gandalf the white would have cried. The material seemed to be two different colours: a black and around the elbows cute off to an ashy colour. Man, fashion these days was so weird.

He stood straight as Belle approached and seemed ready to slip into his automatic 'What can I get you today?' but for the first time since she stepped in Belle actually looked at his face. His skin was grey, like someone had bathed him in ashes. His shirt only went to his elbows. Boy was she embarrassed. You'd think that with all the strange stuff she'd seen a simple skin discoloration wouldn't even faze her, but the magic swarming around his skin was nearly visible. His eyes pierced hers when she took a few seconds longer than needed inspecting his skin. His eyes had an odd gold tint to them. A predatory gleam.

"Can I help you?" Realizing that she had probably already weirded him out Belle decided to get this over like taking a band-aid off. Quick and someone was probably going to get very hurt and probably cry like a baby. Hint-hint, it would probably be her. Looks like she wasn't going to be getting that coffee she wanted today. Shame.

"Yes, I believe you can. I need to speak with the owner of this place." It was a small business so it was more than likely that the manager and the owner were one and the same. Granny owns that little diner back home and she's the manager and cook. With one cool glance around the store he sits his apron on the counter and beckons her to follow him back to the tiny connected kitchen.

"I have a feeling you're not the health inspector." He drawled the moment we passed the threshold. The quiet chatter from the other room had been seemingly muted, no doubt more of this magic.

"Then you'd be right. My names Jane and I'm here on account of this suffocating magic. Whatever you've got going on here definitely isn't just tarot cards and magic tricks." Placing her petite hands on her hips she did her best to imitate that look teachers gave whenever the announcements started up while they were speaking. Though on her face it probably looked more like a mouse trying to convince a cat she was just subbing for the chef and the recipe happened to call for cheese. The owner towered over her, but to be fair, when you're 5 ft.2, even 5th graders look like giants compared to you. But that's where self-confidence comes in.

The ashen faced man raised an almost non-existent eyebrow.

"Oh and you're one to talk?" What was he on about? Did he really have to make this difficult? Belle's got a 14 hour drive ahead of her and every minute spent here meant a longer wait to get home.

"This one time I'm gonna humor you and ask what you're talking about." He looked surprised at that.

"You mean you don't know?" Honestly she just wanted some coffee, not some crazy magic user who likes to be a know-it-all.

"I wouldn't have asked if I did."

"There's old magic on you. Very old, and very powerful. Nothing you could have done, of course." Was that an insult?

"OK dude, I just wanna tell you that magic is dangerous and you're using way too much of the black stuff. Now heaven knows I like coffee just as much as the next customer, but black magic is a terrible creamer and not at all good for sales." With that Belle slid a business card out of the side of her computer bag. It was just a white card with her cell number on it, but you'd be surprised how much it came in handy. People seem to keep better track of a number than a fake name.

"Keep it safe, or else someone's going to get hurt, I've seen enough of these situations to recognize when someone's in over their head, and honey, you're drowning." Once his fingers grasped the card she turned on her heel and left the café. So much for coffee, but the magic had already thrown my appetite out the window. Once Belle was back in the car she couldn't help but wonder what he had been talking about. It wouldn't have been entirely impossible for someone she'd came across in the past to have curse her or something, but most of the magic users had been pretty laid back. Probably because all of the herbs though, if she actually sat back and thought about it. Well, nothing bad had happened so far. Maybe it was just like an 'occasional bad hair day' curse?

Belle was so wrapped up in her own wonderings that she almost didn't see the little girl run out in the road ahead. Luckily black hair sticks out like a sore thumb when surrounded by snow. Slamming the breaks she quickly veered right to avoid her. The car was in park and she was stepping out of it before the little kid could even make it to the other side of the road.

It was a forest-y road and she hadn't passed a house in miles, let alone another person. What was she doing down here? She didn't' look like she could be much older than 7 and she looked so scared. Belle took a hesitant step towards her and the little girl went completely still. Her dark brown eyes widened, meeting my gaze before falling to something behind me. She was down before she could even think to look back. Something had whammed into her shoulder with such a force that if it hadn't broken on contact it was by then time she landed on the concrete. On pure adrenaline Belle jumped up and made a dash for the little girl. She had been in this situation too much in the last three years to stop and look for the monster now. Being just a human, the best she could do with supernaturals that were out of control was save as many civilians as she could. Arm screaming in pain, Belle heaved the girl into her arms and sprinted back to the car, throwing it in drive and gunning it before she could even shut the door. Through her side mirror a mass of shadows could be seen misting upwards as they drove away. As the adrenaline slid out of her system the pain in her right shoulder made itself present and Belle bit back a curse, instead focusing on the shivering kid on her lap.

"Are you alright? Did that thing hurt you before I got there?" she asked as she eased her into the passenger seat. The little girl snapped the seatbelt over herself, reminding the actual adult that she should probably do the same. Be a 'good role model' and all. Out of the corner of her eye Belle could see her shake her head 'no'. Her feet were just hovering over the flooring of the car and her black tresses bobbed around her face shyly.

"Alright then, what's your name?" She was the adult here after all, keeping a level head is what the kid needed her to do so it's what would be done.

"My name's Regina, I think, but I'm not sure." 'Oh my god please don't tell me she hit her head on something. Deep breaths Belle. Who's the best supernatural consultant? I'm the best supernatural consultant.'

"Alright then, how about I just call you snow white until we find your parents, OK?" the shy little bundle in the seat next to me nodded.

"So do you know where you live then? Or your parents' names at least?" Belle was met with another head shake. Sighing lightly she looked back to the road. 'How stupid was I?' Belle thought, mentally slapping herself on the forehead 'If she wasn't even sure of her name why would she know an address?'

"How about school then?" At this question, Regina perked her head up.

"School? I think I've been to a school before! My brother went to one. I don't remember where though." Her voice trailed off sadly. 'What can I do?' Belle was way out of her league with this one, 'Could I just take her with me? Would that be considered child-napping even though technically that shadow thing was probably still after her? I sure hope not, 'cause I'm not stopping this car until I'm out of this magic infested state.'

"Well Snow, how would you feel about going to Maine with me? My grandmother probably has some tricks up her sleeve that could help you keep whatever that thing was- Oh! I forgot to say, my name's Belle. And I'm not kidnapping you I promise. Oh my god even I know that that sounded terrible and I'm the one saying it!" Belle would have gone on with her terrible case of word vomit, but a quiet giggle from Regina stopped her. Regina's face was pulled into a wide smile and her eyes seemed to sparkle. No wait, scratch that, they _were_ sparkling. In the dark brown part of her eyes, glittering colors dances around. That definitely isn't natural, but she doesn't seemed bothered by it so Belle just gave another sigh and decided to just have Granny check it out when she got back home.

14 hours later

The clock on the dashboard kept flashing 10:45 but Belle could have sworn that it was later than that. With time zones you can never tell, but she was pretty sure her car was one of those types that automatically switches the time. Or maybe that's daylight savings time she was thinking of. Either way Belle could barely keep her eyes open. Little Regina had fallen asleep at least three hours ago after we stopped at a McDonalds for dinner. Not a very healthy dinner but it's good enough for a road trip, and the happy meals come with little princess toys which kept Regina occupied for a while. Belle couldn't really complain about her though, she was pretty entertaining seeing as her previous car companions were… Well she hadn't had any.

After about an hour of silence in the car when she had first gotten in she opened her mouth to ask a question and never shut it again. Belle supposed that even with sparkly eyes, some sort of amnesia, and getting chased by shadows on a rural road, Regina was still just like an average 7 year old when it came to asking questions. By the time Regina had fallen asleep she knew all about Belle's job and where they were headed. She even knew all about the flat above the storybrooke library.

The very flat that we were about to pull into. Along with the car, Belle's inheritance also included the little library in town. Although she didn't get that until her 18th birthday. Being the big bookworm that she is Belle hated that she couldn't keep it running as an actual library. With her job so demanding she really only had time to make use of the flat above the library and even then she only used it when she was in town which was only about once a year now. It's a nice size for her too. Two bedrooms and a connecting bathroom. The kitchen's kinda small, but since she was rarely there anyway there's not really reason to complain. Storybrooke's a nice, quiet town, and as such, at a late hour like this it's nearly a ghost town.

Pulling into the parking lot Belle tried to get everything ready so she could just take Regina inside without jostling her awake, but of course, fate was not on her side today. The second she took the key out of the ignition a loud beeping noise began emanating from the dashboard and she began frantically searching for whatever the heck it was so she could turn it off. A sharp whine to her right alerted her that Regina had woken up and was definitely not happy.

"Belleee, turn the light off. It's too bright in hereee." Her whines quickly turned into tired crying. With the alarm still blaring in her ear and Regina's crying getting louder Belle found herself panicking before she literally slapped herself on the forehead.

"I'm a freaking idiot." Belle grumbled under her breath. Regina had said 'turn the light off.' she had left the car lights on. 'Thank god I had a sleepy 7-ish year old in the car with me otherwise I would have been sitting here all night.' Turning the dial she switched the light off before throwing her keys into her jean's back pocket. She lightly shut the door and made her way around to Regina's seat. They had stopped at a gas station a few hours earlier and bought some pain relievers but Belle guessed they must be wearing off now because her shoulder was killing her. She still had to bring Regina into the house and while waking her up and making her walk would be easier, she was already so tired and she didn't really want her to start crying again. Belle remembered going on a road trip when she was regina's age. It wasn't nearly as long but still, she had been so tired afterwards that she couldn't even keep her eyes open. Heck, she could still barely keep her eyes open and it's been twelve years since then.

Pulling Regina up to her hip Belle wrapped her left arm around the kiddo's back to hold her up. Luckily she was still sort of awake and wrapped her legs and arms around Belle to keep herself up. Shutting her door with a little pressure from her leg Belle made her way up to the front door. It was dark and it felt like it was starting to snow again. Snow. Oh crap that's right, what is Regina gonna wear? Belle knew she could just wear one of her night shirts for pajamas since it'll probably be like a dress on her, but what about clothes for tomorrow? It's snowing and cold and the long sleeve shirt and jeans she's wearing aren't going to cut it here so close to the ocean. Balancing Regina on her hip Belle reached into her pocket for the keys. She would just have to worry about that in the morning. It was late and she was dead tired. Unlocking the door, Belle let out a breath she wasn't aware she was. She was home and the heater was on. Hallelujah. Stepping through the door Belle felt a strange feeling on the back of her neck, like she was being watched, but she's learned that there is literally so much creepy stuff in the world it's usually better to just ignore it. It was probably just Granny anyway, it is a full moon after all.

Getting Regina into bed was another problem all together. The change in temperature seemed to energize her- if just for the moment. After Belle showed her the room she'd be staying in and Regina had her mandatory bed-jumping session, the elder of the duo tried to get her a shirt to wear to bed. Nothing Belle had seemed to work for her. She first handed her an old blue shirt she had that was a size too big for herself, but apparently it was 'too boring', so she threw her a plaid shirt and apparently it had 'too much going on.' Five shirts later Regina decided on an old Tony the Tiger shirt that Belle hadn't worn since high school. While she was changing Belle ran back to her room and threw on a white tank top and some worn pajama pants.

Belle was lucky enough that not even five minutes later, Regina was out like a light. Unfortunately, now _she _couldn't sleep. Tomorrow would be such a big day and she knew that if she didn't get to sleep now she was going to really regret it. She would have to get up way before the little missy to get her some warm clothes, then she would have to check in at Granny's before she thought something was wrong… And Belle just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go very wrong. Maybe it's just because she was turning 21, or that she was seeing her parents tomorrow. It's not that she doesn't like seeing them, it's just… It just puts me her in an odd mood.

Groaning, Belle pulled her phone off the nightstand and checked the time: 11:10.

"Great, now I'm gonna get 7 hours of sleep at most. This is terrible." She whined as she closed her eyes and rolled around. She had just drifted into that not quite asleep but not quite awake state when something scuffled downstairs. Now everyone's had those dreams where something makes a loud noise and you jolt awake, but this wasn't a loud noise, it was just wrong. Like when you get gum on the bottom of your shoe and you're trying to scuff it off. After listening intently Belle was ready to pass it off as just her imagination when it started off again. This time louder. Closer. Before the noise could make it to her bedroom door Belle was up and ready to attack. The door had been left open in case Regina forgot the bathrooms were connected and needed her. She was more than thankful that she wouldn't have to grab anymore unwanted attention by opening it.

Belle saw it before it saw her and boy was she glad. It was at least 6 foot tall, and its eyes were gleaming red. Vampire. He was facing her, but he didn't seem to be actually focused on anything at the moment. She was hoping that she could take him by surprise and stake him before he evem knew she had been there, but what would she stake him with? The floor creaked and in her tiredness Belle looked down before she looked up. Big mistake. On the floor in front of her were two large black boots. Following them upwards, they led to legs, a stomach, and then…A vampire. Belle had actually only met three vampires before and all but one had been pretty nice. Ya' know, diet of pig's blood from the butchers and Alexander, the first Vamp she met, actually had a deal set up with a hospital in Texas. 'Haha look at me' She thought frantically, 'completely ignoring the fact that this vamp is standing right in front of me, covered in blood.' Wait, covered in blood? From what she had learned on her travels Vampires aren't very messy eaters, pretty classy people actually. Let's just hope this one isn't a norm breaker.

"Are you… Are you wounded?" Belle tried to keep her voice steady. Lord did she try. Those gleaming eyes zoned in on hers and she unconsciously took a step back.

"My back." He started, his voice husky and low.

"I- uh, fell into a cross at an old church just outside of town. I was partying with some buddies who smelled your scent earlier and said you'd be able to help?" A tingle of relief made its way down her back, she's been totally sure they were going to be a vampire Slurpee. Belle's relief must have been evident because he smiled sheepishly down at her. In the dark only a few features of his face were visible, one of them being his beak like nose. If there was something you wouldn't want to get stuck with for the rest of your life, it would probably be that.

"Yeah, yeah. Just go downstairs and find a seat real quick. I'll grab some stuff." By grabbing stuff she meant mostly for her. Chances are, she'll have to give him some blood to heal him up. Not a lot of course, but some hydrogen peroxide would still be needed so the bite marks didn't scar. Last thing she would want is half the town thinking she got into some weird "Vampire" stuff while she was away, complete with fake fangs and all.

Grabbing Band-Aids and the big brown bottle Belle headed downstairs. The vampire, (let's call him code name: Pelican until his real name is learned) already had his shirt off and was using it to mop up the blood that he had tracked in.

"Oh you don't have to do that! You'll strain your back even more!" Belle worriedly stopped him and tried to stand him up straight.

"No, s'alright. I'm already dead, a lil' more pain won't hurt." Giving a slight chuckle at the unintentional pun Belle started leading him towards the front door.

"We'll have to do this outside, I've got a little girl upstairs and I don't want her to toddle downstairs and catch this show." It was also probably going to hurt and Belle didn't want to wake her up to the sound of someone screaming bloody murder. He nodded in understanding.

"Sorry about the whole breaking in thing, but people don't usually react well to blood covered vampires at their doorsteps."

"Well in my opinion they don't react well to blood covered vampires outside their bedroom either." Belle was sure that if vampires could blush he'd have been tomato red by now.

Shutting the door behind her quietly, Belle looked up at Pelican expectantly.

"Oh! The blood. Right." He stooped down to my neck and sort of nudged my head backwards to get a better biting area. He bit down before she even had a second to rethink her decision. Belle screamed as loud as she physically could. He'd taken the bite too quick and bitten down too close to her shoulder blade. Pain rushed around her in waves, but he didn't stop. He's probably still a fledgling. Belle had enough common sense to know not to move, the bruising that could occur from that would be unimaginable.

A minute or so later he pulled away and Belle slumped to the ground.

"Oh Jesus, I didn't' take too much, did I?" He actually didn't, believe it or not. Shaking her head 'no', Belle tried to stand up, though her wiggly legs made quite the fuss at that.

"Well since you're all healed up now, how about you tell me your name?" If his face could get any whiter Belle imagined he would have turned into Michael Jackson right then and there.

"I didn't-? Oh I'm a terrible Vamp, how could I not tell you my name?" Belle tried slumping her shoulders in an 'I dunno' but cried out as the muscle twitch brought even more pain from her shoulder. Broken. Definitely broken.

"Aw shucks, and now you're hurt? Xander's gonna kill me!" Belle's curls bobbed as she looked up at the mention of her first vamp friend, Alexander. Pelican draped her over the couch before pulling out the hydrogen peroxide she'd left next to the couch. He dabbed a bit on her wounds as he continued talking.

"My name is Demetri. I'm Alexander's brother." She made a happy grunt that was hopefully taken as 'Wow that's great, Xander's the bomb diggity!' but he looked over in alarm instead,

"Oh gosh, I didn't press your shoulder too hard did I? What did that anyway, I notice the bruising when you first walked downstairs." Belle inwardly groaned 'If we could just stop talking about it that would be wonderful, thank you very much.'

"When you're in the supernatural business injuries like these happen a lot." His eyes widened.

"But your shoulder is broken! Why haven't you gone to the hospital?"

"I have a little kid upstairs who hasn't seen the damage yet, and if she does she'll probably think it's her fault. I'll be fine." There. She hoped her tone was sharp enough to stop the conversation, but apparently his 'beak' didn't give him magical 'sensing the mood' bird powers. He gave a sympathetic look before closing up the peroxide and setting both it and the rag aside.

"Look, that's no reason for you to be in pain, but I get it…. I know a healer that's only about 4 hours from here. If I get a potion from her will you take it?"

"You don't have to do that, but if you want to I wouldn't stop you." He brightened considerably and beamed down at her before jumping up and starting towards the door.

"Consider it payment for healing my back! Just you wait little missy, I'll be back by tomorrow night." And with that he was gone. The sound of birds drew her attention to the clock on the library wall behind the book covered counter. 12am…'happy birthday to me' she thought. All though it has to be said, this was a hell of a way to turn 21: laying on a couch with something broken in your shoulder and a vampire on a quest for a potion. She wondered if she could have just one normal day. Well maybe that's a lot to ask for seeing the career she had made for herself. When you help the supernatural your name starts to get passed around and next thing you know it's midnight and you've got vampires coming to you for bit of blood before bed.

Closing her eyes she sighed lightly and finally drifted off to bed on the couch. Her last thought was that maybe that vampire appearing was the bad feeling she had from earlier, she'd always had a sort of sense for things like that, even when she was little.

* * *

><p>Pain. That's what woke Belle up. She pried her eyes open and looked around. She was still on the couch in the library. If she thought her shoulder hurt yesterday, today it was on fire. It was swollen and the bone looked wrong. She only had to wait until tonight for the vamp to show up though. What was his name? Demeter or something like that, right? Whatever. She has a 7 year old upstairs who needs clothes, and what time was it anyway? A quick glance up at the clock told her that it was 7:36. She hoped Regina wasn't up yet.<p>

She was. Belle reached the top of the stairs and there she was, doing some sort of handstand with her feet resting on the door. She didn't remember shutting it though. Belle tried not to laugh as she watched her, but it was getting kinda hard when she lifted her foot and tried to knock on the door with it. Belle started laughing and the little acrobat tumbled onto the ground and looked up at her with eyes widened like a deer in headlights, which of course only got her laughing more until she was laughing so hard that her stomach hurt and no breath escaped her. When her shoulder started aching from all the movement she finally stopped. Regina was standing red faced next to Belle's bedroom door, clutching the bottom of her pajamas shyly.

"Oh my goodness snow, you are the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Just as Belle started making her way to try and gather Regina up in a hug, a knock rang out through the library. She wondered who it could be at this time in the morning.

"C'mon, let's go downstairs and see who's here!" Belle whispered excitedly to Regina who gave a bright smile in return. She wasn't really worried about it being some supernatural because, well it's daytime and usually the most dangerous only come out at night. Actually… that's probably the biggest lie she had ever told herself, but it makes her feel better so it was better to just go with it.

Reaching the bottom of the small stairwell they could see the local attorney and pawn shop owner: Mr. Gold. Though she honestly did not know his first name and wouldn't even be surprised if that actually was his only name. Mr. Gold has always been an odd, rude little man. Of course by little he was a napoleon type of little. He's about 5, 8 which is kind of small compared to other guys his age. He's still a giant compared to Belle though. What's new?

With one sculpted eyebrow raised, she pressed the door open with her left hand. Regina hid behind her, as if sensing that a major douche was at the door. Heh. She inwardly saluted, Major douche.

"Er- Hello Mr. Gold, What can I do for you?" Belle forced a smile on her face, she wasn't even going to bother asking how his day was because with Gold every visit is always business.

"Oh nothing much Dearie. I just happened to be passing by and heard laughter coming from the house. Wanted to see if you finally lost the rest of your marbles." 'And I wanted to see if you were dead yet, but I guess neither of those things are going to happen, eh?' Well that's what she wanted to say, instead Belle kept the smile plastered on her face and responded in a light, maybe a little less than friendly tone.

"Oh not today, . I was just laughing at Sn- uhm, Regina." At this time Regina popped her head out from behind Belle at the mention of her name. Gold's eyes nearly bugged out of his head and his grip hardened on his cane.

"And who is this?" He grit his teeth as he spoke the words, was he angry? What a weirdo.

"This is little Regina, she's my..." 'Oh crap, what do I say? Kidnapeè? How about…'

"Daughter." The head of the cane snapped off and both girls looked down in shock,

"Are you OK?" 'Please don't let him finally snap and go on some insane murdering spree in my house.' She thought, 'Well it's just 'murdering spree' I guess because any murdering spree can be classified as insane.'

"Fine, Dearie. I suppose this old cane just decided to break finally." Uh-huh, that or you're secretly the hulk.

"Well if you don't need anything Mr. Gold, Regina and I really need to go get ready…" He must have just realized that they were both still in their pajamas, his eyes glanced over Belle's attire before landing on my shoulder. Crap, she'd forgot about that. Belle had been too busy to throw on a long sleeved shirt before she came downstairs.

"Are you alright?" He exclaimed rushing forward, Belle stepped back on instinct and he stopped. Collecting himself he reached an arm out.

"Do you need to go to the hospital? My car's right outside." She furrowed her brow, didn't he say he was just _walking_ by?

"No, I'm fine. It's just a little bruising." That hurts like a bitch and happens to be covering a broken bone. He looked thoroughly unconvinced but there isn't much he can really do. Just thirteen hours until that vamp gets back. If he does come back, that is.

"Well goodbye then Dearie." He turned around and started towards the door. Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief he turned back around at the doorway.

"Oh and Ms. French? Happy Birthday." And then he was sauntering away. Why did he even need that cane? He was walking fine without it. The door shut with a loud click in his wake.

Regina spoke first.

"That guy was really weird Belle." The latter nodded sympathetically.

"You got that right."

The snow had picked up soon after Mr. Gold had left, leaving Belle and Regina in a bit of a bind. Regina still had no winter clothes, but they couldn't just wait out the storm, Granny was expecting them, well Belle at least. Regina would be a bit of a surprise.

"Let's go get ready and head out, alright?" Regina nodded and made to run up the stairs, but stopped short and turned back to look at her rescuer.

"Wanna race?" a brilliant smile lit up Belle's face and they were off.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later the girls were ready to go and Regina was bundled up in a two times too big coat. They headed straight to the local clothing store. Belle got her everything from socks to dresses, though she was surprised they even had children's clothes in stock. Storybrooke hadn't seen a child been born in 21 years, coincidentally. It was mostly middle-aged residents ,and the nearest school was a whole town over. Anyway, She wasn't sure how long Regina would be staying so she didn't have to worry about school just yet, but even if it was only until the end of the week at least she knew Regina had all she needed. Belle was from old money and as long as she didn't splurge all the time she was pretty set financially.<p>

After changing in the store's bathroom, Regina and Belle set out to their real destination: Granny's diner. Belle had no idea what she was going to tell Granny about Regina. She wouldn't lie, that's for sure, but she couldn't exactly tell the truth either…

They pulled into the bustling parking lot of the diner. The restaurant had been built in the 70's and the parking lot definitely showed that. Belle was actually afraid for her car. Not that she wasn't usually. The old thing probably had 200,000 miles on it by now and she didn't want to end its 20 year reign over the road because of some uneven gravel. They stepped out were immediately assaulted by the winter winds. What a day to turn 21. It didn't even feel like a birthday, but maybe that was just the price of getting older.

Belle hoisted Regina up into her arms, sitting her on the side of her hip, and the latter hid her face in Belle's coat. Her nose was already rosy and both the girl's hair was already covered in a thin layer of snow. Belle managed to lock the doors and finally started to crunch through the snow towards the door, pulling Regina's hood up on the way. Before she could open the door herself, yelling and banging caught her attention and she stepped away from the door. Regina wiggled around to try and see what was happening but it proved to be unnecessary when the cause of the noise burst through the double doors, red in the face and limbs flailing angrily.

He was the local electrician, but why he was so angry Belle had absolutely no idea, but then again from what she could remember he was always angry. Judging by the town residents all looking through the door at her she was sure she'd find out sooner or later. Probably later, when Granny was done scolding her for 'kidnapping' a kid.

Speaking of Granny, the woman herself toddled through the doorway, black heels clicking away at the tiled floor.

"Belle, I see you made it another year. Now head on in, you're gonna give the poor kid pneumonia!" Good ol' Granny, ever the old grump. Belle slid in and put Regina on the floor. Granny looked the same as ever, grey hair in a giant, loose bun, and a black pen resting over her right ear. It almost seemed like no one in this town changed. She wasn't sure that was a good thing though, especially if Granny was still going to scold her for being away for so long. This was the first time she'd made it up here since last January, after all.

"So who's the kiddo?" All eyes in the diner seemed to be on Belle, and she noticed a particular pair of brown ones that were even more focused than Granny's. Gold's. He was here so Belle couldn't make up some excuse about watching a friend's kid, but oh she hated lying to Granny.

"She's my daughter, Regina. I, uh, adopted her a few months ago." Granny's eyes stayed narrowed for a moment before relaxing.

"Well really? I thought you just popped out a seven year old in the last year since I've seen ya'." Sarcasm, she had to believe the lie if she was joking. Gold looked even more frustrated if that was possible, but he looked like he believed it too. After all Belle had never been known to lie before, and nobody in this town _ever_ changes.


End file.
